Category Archives: NetJets

NetJets’ seemingly endless labor disputes look finally to be ending, as the flight dispatchers have now followed the pilots and flight attendants in reaching a new contract with Berkshire Hathaway’s fractional aircraft ownership company.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters Airline Division and Local 284 report they have reached a tentative agreement with NetJets on a five-year contract for approximately 50 flight dispatchers at NetJets.

The agreement was reached on May 5, and is the first union agreement for the NetJets dispatchers.

According to the union, the average first year wage increase is 18.5 percent.

The contract prohibits displacement or removal from a dispatcher position, furlough or remaining on furlough as a result of implementation of new technology or changes to existing technology. In addition to average signing bonuses in excess of $11,000, the contract prohibits management from increasing out of pocket expenses related to the dispatchers’ health insurance benefits.

The new collective bargaining agreement ends at-will employment and replaces it with just cause protections, access to stewards and other union representatives on the job. It also includes protections against subcontracting or assigning work to employees who are not covered by the contract.

“This moment is the culmination of years of hard work,” said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. “This group has overcome many obstacles and fought incredibly hard to attain this contract. They’ve achieved an excellent agreement which contains job protections, large wage increases and improved retirement benefits. I’m proud to be able to call them Teamsters.”

“We’re ready to represent this group,” said Paul Suffoletto, President of Local 284. “Whether it’s signing bonuses, recognition of seniority rights or job security protections, these dispatchers will now be given the status they deserve within the industry. We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in organizing and negotiations. The work has been greatly rewarded with this agreement, which has the full support of the negotiating committee.”

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice

Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets can’t seem to escape its labor troubles, even after finally reaching agreement with its flight attendants and pilots.

In December 2015, NetJets put its two-year battle over wages with its approximately 2,700 pilots firmly behind it when it agreed to raises that brought the pilots $575 million spread over five years.

Now, it’s the NetJets technicians and flight dispatchers that are preparing for a strike authorization vote, as Teamsters Local 284 complains of “cost-cutting demands and proposals that they say undermine the ability to perform their jobs.”

“NetJets demands the right to replace human flight dispatchers with automation and software programs,” said Paul Suffoletto, President of Local 284 in Columbus, Ohio. “Management is also telling our aviation technicians that they have to compete against lower cost mechanics if they want to perform necessary maintenance work on NetJets aircraft. These actions raise serious questions about cost-cutting at the expense of employees responsible for the safety of flights.”

Local 284 states that its members at NetJets that work in fueling, catering, dispatching, stock clerk, aircraft cleaning and maintenance control operations also could be impacted by the latest round of labor unrest.

They note that the affected workers have been in contract negotiations for more than five years.

Berkshire Hathaway acquired NetJets in 1998, and has struggled with labor troubles. In June 2015, Berkshire canned NetJets’s chairman and CEO Jordan Hansell, who was unable to resolve the pilots’ dispute. The replacement CEO, Adam Johnson, has had better luck.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

In January, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets signed tennis superstar Maria Sharapova as a “brand ambassador.” Now, the leader in fractional jet ownership has signed on as the official private aviation partner of PowerShares Series Tennis for the 2016 season.

As part of the deal, NetJets will receive increased advertising throughout the series, branded features during broadcasts, and hospitality for select events.

Jon Venison, president of InsideOut Sports and Entertainment, the operator of the PowerShares Series, stated that the series is “thrilled and honored to be associated with such a prestigious company.”

The PowerShares Series is a competitive tennis circuit featuring legendary tennis icons and world-renowned champions Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, James Blake, Mark Philippoussis, and Mardy Fish. Each tournament features 4 Champions paired off in one set semi-finals and culminates with the winners meeting in a one-set championship match.

The series begins on April 8th in Chicago, the first of five events in April, before three more events in July and August, culminating with two events in each November and December.

In her role as a NetJets brand ambassador, Maria Sharapova will work with NetJets’ marketing, with a particular focus on social media. She will also provide exclusive experiences for NetJets owners throughout the partnership.

“I have been a long time owner of NetJets, since 2004, and now to become an Ambassador for this quintessential lifestyle company is very exciting,” said Sharapova.

Forbes ranks Sharapova as the highest paid female athlete for the past nine years.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Here’s a Christmas wish list for presents under Warren Buffett’s tree. The items are big, so we’ll fit them under Charlie Munger’s tree as well.

1. Precision Castparts: There’s nothing like getting the present you bought for yourself. The pending acquisition the aerospace manufacturer looks like the gift that will keep on giving. Demand for new airplanes will double over the next 15 years, as aging fleets are retired and millions more people start to fly regularly in India and China.

2. Duracell: Because everyone likes to get cash for Christmas! With the Duracell acquisition set to close in February 2016, Berkshire will gain not only the leading alkaline battery manufacturer, but will also get a company recapitalized by P&G with $1.7 billion in cash, and will get huge tax savings as it trades in its appreciated P&G stock for the battery maker.

3. More German Companies: Warren Buffett’s admiration for the German economy was on full display at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in May 2015. This past February, Berkshire Hathaway struck a deal to acquire Devlet Louis Motorradvertriebs, a mail-order and retail chain selling motorbike clothing and accessories. The move, according to Buffett, was just the first small acquisition in a country with a strong economy and work ethic. And, with a rising dollar and a shaky euro, will more German companies fit under Berkshire’s tree?

4. Lots of Natural Gas: As the world dumps coal and moves to cheaper and cleaner forms of energy, Berkshire’s on the verge of striking it rich in Australia’s gas fields. Natural gas prices may be cratering now, but it never hurts to have a majority share of four trillion cubic feet of gas-in-place (yes, trillion) in Australia’s Whicher Range and Wonnerup gas fields. A new test well hopefully will bring good news in the new year.

5. More Auto Dealers: When Berkshire Hathaway jumped into the auto retailing business in March 2015, with its acquisition of the Van Tuyl Group, it added a whole new line of business to the mega-conglomerate. The Van Tuyl Group was the largest privately owned auto dealership group in the U.S., and Buffett promised that this was just the start of building a major auto-retailing empire. So, will Herb Chambers Companies, a privately-held, Boston-based dealership group with 55 total dealerships, be the perfect fit for Berkshire Hathaway Automotive? Its owner looks ready to sell. Time to wrap this one up and put a bow on it.

6. Happy Pilots at NetJets: Forget your crazy uncle, there’s nothing like having a happy family at Christmas. This holiday, NetJets’ pilots and its flight attendants will be celebrating their new contracts that bring substantial raises. Hopefully, they’ll use it to buy some of Berkshire’s fine products. How about some jewelry from Borsheims? It’s been a good year. Go for it!

7. More Solar & Wind! Berkshire’s quickly becoming the leading energy producer and distributor of solar and wind energy. This year saw major wind farm projects, including a new wind farm site in Adams County, Iowa, which will produce 162 megawatts of additional wind generation capacity in Iowa. Berkshire’s aggressive expansion of it solar power farms saw its Topaz Solar Farm in San Luis Obispo County, California, become one of the largest photovoltaic solar farms in the world. And, there’s plenty of room under the tree for more such projects, which not only bring cheap energy, but also lower environmental costs as they are emissions free. With the cost of solar energy dropping fast, Berkshire’s been signing amazing deals that are a Christmas present now and for decades to come. In Nevada, it has contracted to buy electricity from First Solar’s soon to be built Playa Solar 2 at the astoundingly low rate of only 3.87 cents a kilowatt-hour, and the deal is a fixed rate contract for twenty years.

8. More Deals with 3G Capital: Because everyone likes surprises. 3G’s aggressive acquisition strategy has been the perfect partner for Berkshire’s cash. 3G brings not only the aggressive cost-cutting (aggressive is an understatement) that is bringing legacy companies such as Kraft-Heinz into the 21st century, but also gives excellent financing and equity opportunities. 3G’s merger of Burger King with Tim Hortons brought Berkshire fat interest payments and made Berkshire a minority owner of the newly formed Restaurant Brands International. Surely, there are more deals to be done.

Hard to fit this all under the Christmas tree? Berkshire’s a big company. There’s room for all this and more.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The approximately 2,700 pilots that fly for Berkshire Hathaway’s fractional jet ownership company have agreed to raises that will bring them $575 million spread over five years.

The new deal maintains company-funded medical insurance, offers enhanced scheduling options, expands scope protections and seniority rights, pays out a signing bonus and increases wages an average of 28 percent.

According to the certified election results, 96 percent of the pilot group participated in the referendum with 75.43 percent casting a vote in favor of ratification.

The pilots, who are all members of the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), will split a one-time bonus of $70 million.

The raises mean that a captain with ten-years-experience will earn $143,105. The salary represents a 20-percent increase over previous salary levels.

NetJets is the world-leader fractional jet ownership, with 60-percent of the market, but the move is unlikely to leave it at a competitive disadvantage with its smaller competitors.

In mid-December, Flexjet and Flight Options pilots voted in favor of joining NJASAP, and the salaries negotiated with NetJets will surely be the basis for NJASAP’s negotiations with other fractional jet companies.

The new NetJets pilots’ agreement came after a contentious labor dispute that led to NetJets’ pilots picketing Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, and in September, the pilots began picketing at a number of airports.

Change in Leadership Led to Breakthrough

On June 1, 2015, Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of NetJets, dismissed NetJets CEO and chairman Jordan Hansell, replacing him with Adam Johnson, who had spent 22 years at NetJets. The change led to a new contract with its flight attendants in October, and then an agreement with the pilots in November.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

No one likes cancellation fees when they fly, and for Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets Inc. it’s when they don’t fly, or more specifically when they don’t buy that they incur fees.

NetJets is ponying up cancellation fees as it cuts orders for aircraft purchases and grapples with slumping earnings even as revenues grow.

Columbus, Ohio-based NetJets has run into turbulence this past quarter with its earnings down a whopping 37-percent. Earnings for the first nine months of the year were down a less dramatic but still meaningful 7-percent.

Total revenues were up 5-percent but the company reported that the revenue growth was “partially offset by lower flight operations revenues, which were primarily due to lower fuel cost recoveries.”

Back in 2012, NetJets announced the largest private jet purchase in history, with a total of 425 aircraft scheduled to be added to its worldwide fleet. At the time, it valued the total purchase from Bombardier and Cessna at $9.6 billion.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets is on the verge of settling its labor dispute with its pilots union, just a week after reaching agreement with its flight attendants.

The pilots have been working without a contract since the previous agreement expired in 2013.

NetJets Aviation and the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) have reached an agreement in principle on a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the union’s picketing at seven airports.

The NJASAP Executive Board and Negotiators confirmed that the proposed agreement has enhancements consistent with their goals of “protecting, repairing and improving the previous agreement.”

NetJets and NJASAP have been engaged in contract negotiations since June 2013, and, in early May 2015, began bargaining with the assistance of a National Mediation Board-appointed mediator.

The union released this statement:

“Getting to this point has required a massive effort from top to bottom,” NJASAP President Pedro Leroux said. “We could not have succeeded without the tremendous support of our members and their families: I am extremely proud of this outstanding group of professional pilots.” The Union president added, “I would also like to thank the National Mediation Board, the new NetJets senior management and their negotiators for their commitment to the bargaining process.”

They also added:

“In our highly competitive segment of aviation, major improvements to collective bargaining agreements require that everyone do their part to ensure the highest levels of safety, customer service and reliability,” Leroux said. “The NJASAP pilots have led the industry in these categories, and, going forward, we will redouble our efforts to ensure NetJets retains its industry-leading position.”

It will be late November before the pilots actually vote on the new agreement.

Change in Leadership Brings Breakthrough

On June 1, 2015, Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of NetJets, dismissed NetJets CEO and chairman Jordan Hansell, replacing him with Adam Johnson, who had spent 22 years at NetJets. At the time, there was hope of a breakthrough with NJASAP, the labor union representing the approximately 2,700 pilots employed by NetJets.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

NetJets’ ongoing labor issues took a big step forward as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 284 and NetJets Aviation reached a tentative agreement on a new contract for the 278 flight attendants represented by the union.

The agreement is being hailed as containing “substantial” pay increases and is being called “mutually beneficial.” The union said the terms include:

• A $2.8 million ratification bonus that will equal approximately $80 per month of service for all flight attendants.
• Substantial pay increases for all flight attendants at all seniority levels.
• New 18-year pay scales, increasing from prior 10-year scales.
• The ability to use sick days as personal days.
• New schedule choices.
• Increased flight attendant basing opportunities.

Work on a final agreement will begin during the week of October 12.

Change in Leadership Brings Progress

On June 1, 2015, Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of NetJets, dismissed NetJets CEO and chairman Jordan Hansell, replacing him with Adam Johnson, who had spent 22 years at NetJets. At the time, there was hope of a breakthrough with NJASAP, the labor union representing the approximately 2,700 pilots employed by NetJets.

While some progress was made during a 90-day summer ceasefire that included an expedited bargaining schedule with the intent of reaching a tentative agreement, the two sides were still at loggerheads over wages, retirement and health care benefits. NJASAP resumed its picketing, noting that the union and management were still far apart.

In September, 800 pilots and their family members picketed at seven picket sites across the country.

Now, with the breakthrough agreement with the flight attendants’ union, there is at least a glimmer of hope that NetJets might settle its contract dispute with its pilots. NetJets and NJASAP have been engaged in contract negotiations since June 2013, and, in early May 2015, began bargaining with the assistance of a National Mediation Board-appointed mediator.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Sometimes a familiar face is not enough to bridge a labor contract dispute.

The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) has set September 10 as the date to resume picketing NetJets at seven airports. The resumption of picketing reflects the union’s frustration with its lack of progress in getting a new contract.

NetJets pilots have been working without a contract since the prior agreement expired in 2013.

A Familiar Face Returns

On June 1, Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of NetJets, fired NetJets’s chief executive and chairman Jordan Hansell. Hansell was replaced with Adam Johnson, who had spent 22 years at NetJets.

At the time, NJASAP was positive in the change in NetJets’s leadership.

“Newly appointed CEO Adam Johnson and COO Bill Noe bring much needed experience in both operational and labor relations to their respective positions. Union Leadership looks forward to engaging the new team: We hope they share our goal of rebuilding a once progressive labor management relationship. Similarly, Union Negotiators remain ready and willing to work with senior management to bring contract negotiations to a successful conclusion on behalf of our pilots.”

Unfortunately, after a 90-day summer ceasefire, the union is ready to resume its picketing, noting that the union and management are still far apart.

Johnson has pointed to the “remarkable” progress the two parties have made, but notes, “due to the parties’ views about the economics of this business — and thus how much additional cost we can take on over the next decade — as well as different expectations concerning the demand for the services we provide.”

NJASAP is seeking a 35% pay increase over three to five years. Currently, its captains with 10 years of experience earn $131,179 a year.

Words of Wisdom from Warren

“It’s human nature to sometimes have differences about how people get paid,” Berkshire chairman Warren Buffett said, when questioned about the dispute at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

Unfortunately, those differences don’t look any closer to being resolved.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.